With one year concluded and another beginning, Alma College students share their new year resolutions, how they’ve been sticking to them and if they are worth even making in the first place.

When asked if he had made any new year resolutions, Seth Davis (’17) said, “Yes, [to read] 20 pages of a book that is not related to school every day and to read at least two articles every day about what happens in the world.”

Davis continues by saying that this resolution will help him to keep up to date on political news and give him something more constructive and fun to do with his time.

In regards to her new year resolutions, Marina Evstifeeva [Russia] said, “I want to live successfully for the next four months in America, be successful at the Model UN conference and catch the happy moments in life,” which she says she tends to “notice when they already pass.”

When asked why she chose these goals, Evstifeeva said, “Being in America is one of the greatest events in my life and also to have a wonderful first half of the year.”

When asked how she was doing on her resolutions, Evstifeeva said, “I’m trying; happiness comes from hanging out with friends and getting out and experiencing college life. I’ve also been working really hard for Model UN.”

“I did make some new year resolutions,” said Naomi Oravitz (’21). “My two main resolutions are to keep my room clean and to not worry as much.”

Oravitz chose these because, she is “a super messy person and [her] room has also been an issue for [her],

“Now I have a roommate who is very neat,” said Oravitz. “I decided that I shouldn’t worry as much because I’m constantly overthinking everything and in a lot of ways that ruins things. I worry about the things that I can and can’t control, so at the end of the day I’m left stressed and drained.”

“So far I’ve stuck to my resolutions,” said Oravitz, “but I know something’s got to give. I’ll probably end up breaking one of them soon enough.”

When asked why she makes resolutions, Oravitz added, “I feel like they’re a chance for me to better myself and start over. Everyone makes goals, so I guess I kind of figure it makes sense to make them at the start of the year rather the middle.”

Davis stated that he tries not to make resolutions.

“I try not to, so I don’t break them [but] this is a very different resolution; I have plenty of books and want to immerse myself in that.”

“No, I did not make any new year’s resolutions because I believe that the new year’s ‘clean slate’ does not mean a new me,” said Brooklyn Dearing (’20).

“I am the same person I was in 2017, I have my flaws that I want to improve, but it isn’t something that will happen overnight.”

When asked if she thinks of new year’s resolutions as being beneficial or just something that people will eventually break, Dearing stated, “I believe that people can keep their new year’s resolutions but I find it very rarely. You begin change when you are ready for it and truly want to.”

“I have made the typical resolutions in the past of working out more and eating healthier, but ultimately those failed because they weren’t something that I truly saw as a problem in my life that I wanted to fix,” said Dearing in regards to past new year’s resolutions.

“If you want to change something about your life, do it. Don’t do it because ‘new year, new me.’ Do it because you want to fully commit to that change and improve your life.”